FCC Mandated POTS Line Replacement
(aka Central Office Lines, DSL, Land Lines)
Lumen voice POTS line use has declined due to competition from many wireless and internet technologies that now complete voice calls, and voice calls are down due to email, video, and text communications.
- Cell phones – 65% of residences no longer have a POTS line
- Cable companies now bundle phone lines with internet and TV
- VoIP lines like Vonage and SIP trunks are voice over internet
- Hosted Phone Systems are voice over internet
- Email, chat, and texting have reduced the overall need for voice lines
- Video conferencing (Zoom, Teams, etc.) has reduced need for voice lines
- Independent fiber connection suppliers’ VoIP eliminated voice POTS lines
- Apps have eliminated voice calling (example: restaurant reservations over internet, etc.)
- Fire alarm panels, security alarms, and other monitoring devices are now mostly wireless/cellular
- Fax To Email services have reduced the need for fax lines
- And there are many more examples
POTS Lines aka Central Office Lines are phone lines that utilize the old copper wire network in the ground or on telephone poles between your office and your neighborhood CenturyLink/Lumen Central Office telecom building. You may know Central Office Lines by other names like:
Plain Old Telephone Service (POTS) lines, Business Phone Lines, Land Lines, Analog Lines, Voice Lines, Fax Lines, Alarm Lines, and more.
Your POPP invoice will list any such lines as Central Office Lines, so that is the term we use below.
In 2019, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) issued order FCC-19-72 that allows regulations set back in 1996 to expire, giving Incumbent Local Exchange Carriers (ILECs) like AT&T, Verizon, and CenturyLink/Lumen freedom from price controls and wholesale requirements.
The FCC’s aim is to relieve ILEC’s across the nation of the burden of maintaining the legacy copper network, to accelerate investment in broadband and “Next Generation Networks”, namely Voice over IP (VoIP).
https://www.fcc.gov/document/fcc-grants-relief-outdated-burdensome-phone-industry-regulations
Order FCC 19-72 means that ILECs such as CenturyLink/Lumen can increase the cost of services provided on the old copper network and eventually retire those legacy technologies. As a result, CLECs like POPP must pass on the increased recurring costs to their customers and assist those customers to transition those services to VoIP.
CenturyLink/Lumen must only give POPP 30 days’ notice of a price increase, so we must act now.
Currently, all POPP services that are provided using the CenturyLink/Lumen copper network are being affected by price increases with more increases coming soon. Besides POPP Central Office Lines, other affected POPP services are internet connections such as DSL, DADSL, T1, Ethernet over Copper (EoC), and Broadband Internet (BI). These are all grandfathered services that POPP hasn’t offered or installed new in years; however, clients have been able to continue using these existing services up until this point. These legacy connections must now be disconnected, and modern replacement connections must be obtained from the internet provider of your choosing.
While POPP no longer offers internet connections, POPP is an agent for Comcast Business internet and can determine if Comcast service is available at your location and place an order for you. However, placing the Comcast order is the extent of POPP’s involvement – Comcast would bill you directly, and you’d contact Comcast for internet questions or for troubleshooting.
In 2024, the majority of POPP’s business services are delivered via VoIP, yet many clients still utilize a line that uses the legacy copper network. For years, POPP has offered modern VoIP telephone lines as a reliable alternative to legacy phone technologies that don’t rely on old copper wiring while still providing all the services businesses need to stay connected.
1. POPP Business VoIP Lines
POPP Business VoIP Lines are a simple and direct replacement for most POPP Central Office Lines. A POPP technician installs an Analog Telephone Adaptor at your site and performs the conversion with only momentary downtime. VoIP Lines work just like Central Office Lines, with the same dial tone, phone number and line features. POPP Business VoIP Lines include 1000 minutes per month of domestic long distance.
2. POPP Wireless Cellular Safety Lines
POPP’s Wireless Cellular Safety Lines provide a dual connection using VoIP and cellular technology and come with an 8-hour battery backup service. Since this service provides cellular backup in the event of an internet outage, and battery backup in the event of a power outage, this service meets the NFPA72 – City Fire Code Requirements.
Wireless Safety Lines are designed for fire alarm panels and elevator phones, however any analog device that you wish to have cellular and battery backup are good candidates, including essential fax lines, monitoring lines, credit card lines, door entry lines, etc.
3. Specialty Telephone Numbers
In some cases, a business may retain a Central Office Line mainly because the telephone number is valuable but may not need the line’s dial tone. POPP’s Specialty Telephone Number service allows you to keep the phone number active but disconnect the Central Office Line. POPP will forward incoming calls to the phone number of your choosing.
The POPP team is proactively working on neighborhood central office, by priority of which ones are most likely to encounter a CenturyLink/Lumen price increase and disconnect first. You can expect further notifications via email and phone calls from a POPP representative in the coming weeks and months as the neighborhood central office that serves your office is identified as the next one to upgrade.
In the meantime, please review your POPP invoice for Central Office Lines and/or the affected POPP internet connections listed above and begin to determine which lines should be converted to Business VoIP Lines, Wireless Cellular Safety Lines, Special Telephone Numbers, or which can be disconnected.